HYDERABAD: A businessman, who was looking for finance to set up an industry Visakhapatnam was duped by four persons, by sending him Rs 60 crores worth fake bitcoins. The four accused were arrested by Cyber Crime wing of Cyberabad police on Saturday.
In a press note, Cyberabad police said four persons - Vasi Reddy Radha Rani, Ponnapati Praveen Kumar Reddy, Ponnapati Prakash Reddy and Katari Konda Balaramudu - were arrested for duping Manesh S Yadav. The accused collected Rs 35 lakh from Mahesh on the assurance of providing loan.
Balaramudu introduced Radha Rani to the victim, who was seeking huge
bank loans for his upcoming business. Radha Rani assured him to facilitate Rs 180 crore bank loan by mortgaging his land documents. Radha Rani asked Mahesh to pay Rs 10 lakh initially. After taking the amount, she informed Mahesh that she will not be able to provide the money in cash and instead she can provide bitcoins of face value Rs 60 crore. Mahesh fell for the trap and opened a Bitcon wallet on BTCJUST.com. For providing bitcoins, Radha Rani took a commission of Rs 25 lakh.
When Mahesh started the process to liquidate the bitcons, he realised that they were fake and he has been cheated. Praveen, a software professional who runs a Rs BPO at
Punjagutta, had developed BTCJUST.com software.
The four accused were arrested based on the
mobile phone tracking details and banking transactions. The accused were sent to judicial remand and police are in the process of moving a petition in local court seeking their custody. Police seized Rs 9 lakh cash, one car, four mobile phones and a laptop from the possession of the accused.